Three Seconds to Break the BarrierAuthor: Sage Runepaw Posted: November 2nd. 2008 Times Viewed: 3,437

Merry meet, everyone!

It's interesting how Divinity can touch us in very subtle, but profound ways.

Not an hour ago, I went out to the local deli to pick up some food that mom and I need, and to cash a check from work at the bank. Pretty standard action for me; I do it once every week or every other week as need be. I did my business at the shop and the bank, and plopped back into my car to head home.

I took my right hand turn at the lights and drove down to one of the worst intersections in my state. This intersection has no set of lights at all, and looks like a hexagram. I'm not kidding: It has the road that I was currently staying straight on, and then four other roads jutting at an X across from it. Horrid street design, to be certain, and it's for good reason that it gained its reputation.

So I naturally slowed down a little bit, and I notice that there's a gaggle of school-age children with the chaperone or teacher up at the front, to my left. I happen to have my window down at the moment to let the cool autumn air in- I'm a relatively hot-blooded person, and I used to run amok in summer clothes in freezing New England blizzards.

So while I'm watching the children cross the road and keeping an eye on things, I hear a high-pitched "Hiiii!" from one of them. I don't turn my attention away from the road: living with my relatively strict grandmother growing up, I was very well-conditioned never to talk to strangers. It's instinct for me to 'ignore' someone and continue on with my business in my own little bubble, and thank the gods that I've been actively working against said conditioning the last several years.

I let the car roll a little bit, about to check again if it's time to go on up the hill, and I hear another voice. "HIIII!" yells some little kid.

This time, light bulb goes off over my head: Why ignore children? They are the future generation, after all, and it was a random kindness. Children haven't yet been conditioned by society into being more apathetic, hardened adults towards those in need, those whom they want to make 'invisible' (or treat people as such) - they're just kids. They're more open.

More compassionate, maybe? I know for a fact that when I was a kid, I was not only a budding empath with no real barriers blocking the 'outside world' whatsoever (those were only reserved for the people who actively beat me many times a week for many years in school- I expected adults to behave like adults and treat me better, so I trusted them more- but trust is a whole different article for another time) .

What if, just for a moment, all the adults in this world had a similar revelation and realized that they could learn from their children in a similar example as what had been shown to me today?

Why do we as adults continue to block each other out?

No one 'wants' to see the elderly, or those with a physical difficulty, or those who are in some way deemed 'less than whole' by our society.

But we have state of the art nursing homes, state of the art psychological facilities to help these people- but does that even matter if most of or all of the people on any given street see right past a man who's homeless from being unable to hold down a job due to a mental disability, see right past an elderly woman struggling with her grocery bags being too heavy for her arthritic, gnarled hands, or a man with only one arm trying to push through a very heavy door to go into a building?

We are right there, witnessing it- yet we ignore it. Why? All it comes down to in the end is we either continue on our way, taking the 'easy' way out and possibly having the sense of self to regret it hours or days later, or if we take the few moments, minutes maybe, to go and offer our services to the person. They just might actually need our help. If they refuse and give harsh words- that's okay too, and that's probably only the worst that could happen.

It isn't about who's the better person for approaching the person who seemed to (and may or may not have been) in need. It's the fact that that doorway of opportunity opened, and that you walked through your comfort zone (remember my previous article, where I slid off my bed and had the recognition of the symbolism behind it?) to reach out to another.

For a moment, you transcended your own barriers and touched fingertips with your higher self, the one who's more compassionate, less hardened by the state of affairs this world seems to be in. "This world sucks and it's going to hell, " you might say as you snort and stare down at your TV screen- but take a closer look into your life. What is in 'your world'? Yes, we are a part of the whole world, this Earth- but on the other hand, we are not personally friendly or hostile towards some 6 or so billion people. Our personal world is comprised of family, friends, acquaintances... our 'world' is smaller than the one in which we are a part of on a global scale.

And just for a moment, that person in need on the street or hall you're in is a part of your life, as well (unless you don't believe that others exist and that you're making it up- in which case, I'm not really sure how to continue on that vein of discussion) .

For five minutes here or there, a person might need you, and not only is this person in your 'reality', your 'world', you're in theirs, too. And the feeling of the warm fuzzies you get from knowing that you helped a person who needed you lets you know that you did well, also.

Gods know the world needs more of this warmth. We're being too cold to each other, pretending we're in an ice age- and when things get rough, as they are getting on a global scale now, closing each other off becomes a thing that hurts more than it's worth to do it. People band together for support- there's no shame to be had in relying on others and working with them, providing you do your share of the work to keep things moving along well.

For three seconds, little children were greeting me as I drove by the sidewalk. This second time when one of them had said hello because I had ignored it the first time, I look: but I don't see who said it, as I see myriad colors of jackets and coats and little munchkins all clustered together, still, progressing up the road. But this time, I know better: their greetings have left a very profound impact on me and I felt a sacred moment within it. And I had absolutely no reason whatsoever -not- to say hello back. And what would they feel if I just ignored them? Children think quite differently than we do, and they're more open and trusting.

I smile at their kindness to greet a stranger with whom they have no connection save that I existed momentarily as the young man in the butterscotch, metallic-gold car driving through an intersection that they had just crossed. "HI!" I exclaim enthusiastically out the window and as loudly as I could.

I hear giggling- and I feel warmth flooding from my heart region, lighting up my soul. Growing up, I was immensely child-phobic. Over time, I've turned into a golden, friendly little-kid person (especially as they're not my own- that could be a whole other essay!) - including to the point where on this Halloween, for work, I will be offering candy to them in our community event, all dressed up in a purple, furry creature costume that I made myself the last few months. I know that these children, for all our current generation and older generations may feel jaded and try to treat the less-fortunate as 'invisibles', look to us to learn from.

I know Deity is smiling, too.

Because we can still learn from the children, as it should be, like the lemniscate, the great infinity loop. There is always something to be learned, regardless of whom it's from.

I existed to these children: I transcended my own personal bubble of existence to let them know they existed to me, as well.

We said hello; we didn't have to know each other. We as a people should more commonly be able to not only greet each other without being closed off in stiff silence to try to move to our destinations with as little interaction as possible (this is a common thing further downtown in my region) , but to reach out to the 'invisible' people, transcend our barriers and extend the hand of compassion, with awareness.

Maybe others will become aware as well, and trigger a chain reaction of awakening consciousness. I've seen it on the small scale at my workplace: if I help a person who needs something, other people will then help those they see who also need assistance.

Why is it that people don't just give themselves the "okay" to initiate helping others themselves without playing follow-the-leader? I'm not sure I'll ever quite understand it, and though I have my own small measure of humanitarianism, I'm sure that every person has the capacity to open up to it somehow, somewhere.

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